| Trump: People in Pennsylvania 'want their freedom now,' but Democrats delay reopening to hurt him Posted: 11 May 2020 09:10 AM PDT  President Trump on Monday accused Democratic governors without evidence of moving to reopen their states too slowly amid the coronavirus pandemic to hurt his chances of reelection.
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| Coronavirus: Mexican jailed gang leader Escamilla dies Posted: 11 May 2020 06:04 AM PDT  Mexican Moisés Escamilla was serving a sentence for crimes including the decapitation of 12 people.
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| UN says 7 or 8 `top' candidates for a COVID-19 vaccine exist Posted: 11 May 2020 04:27 PM PDT  The World Health Organization chief said Monday there are around seven or eight "top" candidates for a vaccine to combat the novel coronavirus and work on them is being accelerated. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a U.N. Economic and Social Council video briefing the original thinking two months ago was that it may take 12 to 18 months for a vaccine. "We have good candidates now," Tedros said.
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| Listen live: Supreme Court teleconference arguments continue Posted: 11 May 2020 08:55 AM PDT  The Supreme Court will consider Monday two cases, one involving tribal land and another involving how employment discrimination laws apply to religious institutions.
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| NYC deaths from non-COVID causes rise over 5,000 above normal rate: CDC Posted: 11 May 2020 10:26 AM PDT  The deaths could be due to several factors, the CDC said https://bit.ly/2WNQpjc, including delays in seeking or getting life-saving care for fear of exposure to the coronavirus. Tracking excess mortality is vital in understanding the contribution to the death rate of both COVID-19 and poor availability of care for people with non-COVID conditions, noted researchers, who reported their findings in the CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR). The CDC used data from the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, which has an electronic reporting system with a near complete count of all deaths in the city.
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| Virus symptoms multiply as pandemic deepens Posted: 11 May 2020 06:44 AM PDT  Every week, it seems, the list of coronavirus symptoms -- ranging from disagreeable to deadly, from "COVID toes" to toxic shock -- grows longer. What began as a familiar flu-like cluster of chills, headaches and fever has rapidly expanded over the last three months into a catalogue of syndromes affecting most of the body's main organs. The new coronavirus can also push the immune system into overdrive, unleashing an indiscriminate assault on pathogens and their human hosts alike.
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| Texas Salon Owner Admits to ‘The View’ She Received PPP Funds Before Court Date Posted: 11 May 2020 10:10 AM PDT  Shelley Luther, the Texas hair salon owner who received national attention for defying orders to keep her shop temporarily closed during the coronavirus pandemic, admitted on Monday morning that she had received $18,000 in stimulus funds days before her fateful court appearance.Luther became a conservative hero when she was briefly jailed last week following her refusal to apologize to a Texas judge after she was found guilty of civil and criminal contempt for violating a temporary restraining order by keeping her shop open despite stay-at-home orders. Sentenced to seven days in jail and a $7,000 fine, Luther was quickly freed by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and her fine was paid by Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick.Appearing on the popular ABC talk show The View, Luther was confronted on her previous claims that she violated the state's shelter-in-place orders because she and her shop's stylists were facing financial hardships."You applied for small business loans and unemployment, and you did receive some aid from the government," co-host Sunny Hostin noted. "You received $18,000 from the government.""So I understand why people feel so strongly about going back to work because they feel that the government isn't doing its job and taking care of people, but in this instance, two days before you went to court, the money went into your account," Hostin added. "So I'm troubled by that."Luther replied that she could understand why the View host "would be troubled" before claiming that she didn't know what to do with the money she applied for and received through the Paycheck Protection Program."What happened was I already had the court date, and I already had been open the entire time," the salon owner asserted. "There was $18,000 dropped in my bank account with no notice of what it was. So I get no instructions."Saying that she thinks the money is from "one of the loans," Luther went on to claim that she doesn't "know how I'm supposed to spend it," adding that she is aware that there are a number of regulations and guidelines that come with the funds."I didn't want to put myself in deeper debt by spending it the wrong way, you know, and also having to close the salon," Luther said. "So until I got further instruction on that, I didn't want to spend it.""And giving me $18,000 to spend when my stylists aren't actual employees of mine, they're actually subleasing," she concluded. "So I wasn't sure if I was even able to give them any of that money as employees because I don't pay them."Besides the widespread adulation she received from the right over her defiance of stay-at-home orders, which included praise from President Donald Trump and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) flying in for a haircut at her salon, Luther was also the beneficiary of a GoFundMe campaign that raised more than $500,000 on her behalf.Texas Monthly, however, recently reported that the crowdfunding effort for Luther, which labeled her an "American hero," was actually created back on April 23, one day before she reopened her salon. The campaign organizer wrote that they "researched her and her cause" and decided that "we would approach her and offer to support her as our first patriot cause."Read more at The Daily Beast.Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast hereGet our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| Release of Iranian scientist in doubt as US official 'calls BS' Posted: 11 May 2020 10:23 AM PDT  Homeland security questions whether Tehran wants return of Sirous AsgariA potential deal to release a renowned Iranian scientist from a US jail and return him to Iran appears to be in danger of breaking down after a senior US official questioned whether Tehran really wanted him returned.Iran's foreign minister, Javad Zarif, claimed on Monday that Sirous Asgari had been freed by US authorities and would be able to return to Iran immediately if he tested negative for coronavirus.But his remarks were dismissed as "BS" by a senior US Department of Homeland Security official, who accused Iran of slow-walking a deal.A well-regarded materials scientist, Asgari was acquitted on charges of stealing US trade secrets but remains in immigration detention where he contracted the coronavirus.Zarif said on Monday that Asgari "has been acquitted of false charges and we have been very active in preparing the ground for his return. If his coronavirus is negative he could return on the first flight".Zarif's statement was reported on the margins of an Iranian parliament foreign and security committee meeting in Tehran.Speaking generally about the return of Iranian prisoners held in the US, Zarif said: "The Islamic Republic of Iran is ready to exchange all Iranian prisoners in the United States and other countries, imprisoned under American pressure, with American prisoners in Iran."He repeated Iran's position that further talks with the US were not necessary for a prisoner swap between Iran and the US.But the US deputy secretary for homeland security, Ken Cuccinelli , accused Zarif of stalling over Asgari, tweeting: "We have been trying to return Sirous Asgari and you suddenly wake up and say you actually want him back. You say you want all your citizens back, I call BS. How about you put your money where your mouth is? We have 11 of your citizens which are illegal aliens who have been trying to return to your country."He proposed Zarif charter a plane and then the US would send all 11 Iranians back.He added: "If you have really been speaking the truth these last few weeks and you really want your citizens back then stop stalling and send the plane. The world is watching and expecting the usual outcome namely you will do nothing except keep talking."Asgari arrived in the US in 2017 with his wife and with valid passports and visas, but upon arrival he discovered he was being prosecuted by the US government for alleged violations of sanctions law.After his acquittal, he was kept in jail on the basis that his visa had expired. He had offered to buy his own flight ticket home, and it looked as if he was being held until the Iranians agreed to release Americans in Iranian custody.The US has been trying to secure the full release of a US Navy veteran, Michael White, who contracted coronavirus in jail and was then transferred to the Swiss embassy in Tehran. There was no direct swap of Asgari and White on the cards, but the progress on the cases is seen as entangled.In an interview with the Guardian in March, Asgari accused the US immigration authorities of leaving inmates to contract coronavirus in overcrowded and dirty prisons. He said: "The way Ice [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] looks at these people is not like they are human beings, but are objects to get rid of."A professor at the Sharif University of Technology, a public university in Tehran, said: "The way that they have been treating us is absolutely terrifying. I don't think many people in the US know what is happening inside this black box."
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| 'We did our time': Colorado restaurant defies state order, reopens to packed crowds Posted: 11 May 2020 01:49 PM PDT  As states prepare to lift restrictions on businesses such as bars and restaurants, scenes that played out in several states on Mother's Day weekend shows how doing so safely amid the coronavirus pandemic may prove to be challenging.
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| Militants storm maternity clinic in Afghan capital, kill 16 Posted: 12 May 2020 12:16 AM PDT  Militants stormed a maternity hospital in the western part of Kabul on Tuesday, setting off an hours-long shootout with the police and killing 16 people, including two newborn babies, their mothers and an unspecified number of nurses, Afghan officials said. While the battle was underway, Afghan security forces struggled to evacuate the facility, carrying out babies and frantic young mothers, according to images shared by the Interior Ministry. A suicide bomber in eastern Nangarhar province — a hotbed of the Islamic State group — targeted a funeral ceremony, killing 24 people and wounding 68.
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| Interpol issues red notice for US diplomat's wife charged with killing Harry Dunn Posted: 11 May 2020 08:49 AM PDT  Interpol have issued a red notice for the wife of a US diplomat charged with killing Harry Dunn, as police told his parents she was "wanted internationally". British prosecutors charged Anne Sacoolas with causing death by dangerous driving after a car crash that knocked the 19-year-old off his motorbike outside a US military base in Northamptonshire last year. It is alleged the 42-year-old suspect had been driving on the wrong side of the road before the crash. Ms Sacoolas is the wife of a US intelligence official based at RAF Croughton and claimed diplomatic immunity to allow her to return to America, sparking an international row. An extradition request submitted by the Home Office was rejected by the US secretary of state Mike Pompeo in January. In a significant escalation of Britain's stance on the issue, it emerged on Monday that Interpol had issued a request to police forces worldwide to locate and provisionally arrest Ms Sacoolas if she crossed their borders. Number 10 said the refusal by the US to extradite Ms Sacoolas, who was charged in December, amounted to a "denial of justice". Red notices are issued by the international policing organisation - of which both the UK and US are members - at the request of a member country. They are distinct, however, from an international arrest warrant and Interpol cannot compel police in any country to arrest someone who is the subject of a red notice. In an email sent by Northamptonshire Police, the 19-year-old's parents were told the suspect is "wanted internationally" and "should she leave the USA the wanted circulations should be enacted". Reacting to the development, Harry Dunn's mother Charlotte Charles said: "It's been a terrible time for us. "We are utterly bereft and heartbroken and miss our Harry every minute of every single day. "This is important news that (our spokesman) has just passed on to us and we are in pieces. "I just want to urge Mrs Sacoolas to come back to the UK and do the right thing. Face justice and maybe then our two families can come together after the tragedy and build a bridge." A spokeswoman for the US state Department last reiterated its position on April 30, saying that, at the time of the accident and for the duration of her time in the UK, the driver had immunity from criminal jurisdiction. Mr Dunn's parents had separately written to Donald Trump, the US President, asking him to review the decision to block the extradition request. News of the Interpol notice came just hours after the head of the armed forces told the grieving family that he will make representations to his US colleagues about setting up a meeting after claims of "near misses" involving American military staff. General Sir Nick Carter penned a letter to Charlotte Charles and Tim Dunn promising to raise the matter - saying "I am very supportive of positive engagement between you and the US base commander". His parents had issued a plea to arrange a meeting with the base following claims of "three near misses" involving their staff since the teenager's death.
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| China warns of countermeasures to new U.S. rule for Chinese journalists Posted: 11 May 2020 10:57 AM PDT  China warned on Monday that it will take countermeasures in response to a U.S. decision to tighten visa terms for Chinese journalists and urged the United States to immediately "correct its mistake."
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| WHO Says It Cannot Invite Taiwan to Annual Summit after China Says Participation Would ‘Severely Violate the One-China Principle’ Posted: 11 May 2020 02:15 PM PDT  The World Health Organization said it could not invite Taiwan to an upcoming international health summit, despite pleas from the U.S. and its allies, due to "divergent views," after China said it "deplores and opposes" efforts to include Taipei in the gathering.WHO principal legal officer Steven Solomon explained to reporters on Monday that the WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom could not invite Taiwan — which is not a member of the WHO — to participate in the annual meeting of the World Health Assembly (WHA) if members of the international body disagreed."To put it crisply, director-generals only extend invitations when it's clear that member states support doing so, that director-generals have a mandate, a basis to do so," Solomon explained. "Today however, the situation is not the same. Instead of clear support, there are divergent views among member states and no basis there for — no mandate — for the DG to extend an invitation."Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said last week that Tedros should include Taiwan in the upcoming WHA meeting, saying "he has the power to do, and as his predecessors have done on multiple occasions." The proposal was supported by New Zealand, Canada, Australia, and Germany, but China disparaged the claim, saying that those supporting it "severely violate the one-China principle."Last month, Tedros himself accused Taiwan of racist "attacks" over his handling of the coronavirus pandemic, an allegation that Taiwan denied as "unprovoked and untrue." Tedros's claim came after Taiwan said in March that the organization had ignored its December warnings that human-to-human transmission of coronavirus was possible. The WHO tweeted on January 14 that "Preliminary investigations conducted by the Chinese authorities have found no clear evidence of human-to-human transmission."
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| 'If anyone is arrested, I ask that it only be me': Elon Musk confirms Tesla is restarting its factory against local rules Posted: 11 May 2020 02:11 PM PDT  Last month, Elon Musk said shutdowns designed to slow the spread of the virus were "fascist" and un-American.
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| Packed United flight leaves passengers 'scared,' 'shocked' amid fears of the coronavirus Posted: 10 May 2020 06:27 PM PDT  Physician tweets photo of full plane despite airlines' assurances of open middle seats. On this cross-country flight, there appeared to be no empties.
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| Dr Fauci testimony – live: Top expert contradicts Trump's death toll prediction as Republican snaps at him that he's not 'the end all' Posted: 12 May 2020 06:04 AM PDT  The US government's leading infectious disease expert is preparing to warn that reopening the economy too soon will risk "needless suffering and death" when he testifies to a Senate committee on Tuesday.Dr Anthony Fauci, head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, will appear remotely before the Senate Health, Education, Labour and Pension Committee as it assesses reopening plans.
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| Pelosi urges Congress to 'go big' on next virus aid package Posted: 11 May 2020 05:58 PM PDT  House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is poised to unveil the next coronavirus aid package, encouraging Congress to "go big" on aid to help cash-strapped states and struggling Americans. Senate Republicans said Monday they are not planning to vote on any new relief until June. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says there is no "urgency" to act.
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| South Korea and China report new coronavirus cases after easing lockdown measures Posted: 10 May 2020 08:40 PM PDT  South Korea and China have reported fresh surges in coronavirus cases in the wake of both countries easing their lockdown measures. "The nation is at risk," Park Won-soon, the mayor of the South Korean capital, Seoul, said on Monday, warning that the next few days will be "critical" in preventing the spread of a virus from a cluster of cases linked to several of the city's nightclubs and bars. A total of 86 new infections have been reported so far in the new outbreak as officials race to track down thousands of others who may have come into contact with a 29-year-old man who visited the venues before testing positive for Covid-19. The scare will ring alarm bells for other governments eager to loosen lockdown restrictions. South Korea has won global praise for successfully controlling the virus with its efficient "test, track, treat" strategy, reducing new infections to a daily trickle of single digit figures. The sudden spike in cases has raised fears of a second coronavirus wave. The authorities have tested more than 2,450 people who went to the night spots in the Itaewon neighbourhood, but officials are still trying to track about 3,000 more with the help of phone records and credit card data.
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| Colombian airline Avianca files for bankruptcy in US court Posted: 10 May 2020 06:27 PM PDT  The firm said its income has dropped 80% since grounding its fleet due to the coronavirus pandemic.
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| Israel remains focused on Iran rivalry despite virus Posted: 11 May 2020 07:52 PM PDT  Comments last week from an unnamed Israeli defence official that Iran was reducing its presence in Syria sparked fierce debate about Tehran's next moves and how the Jewish state should respond. Iran policy will inevitably be a top concern for the Israeli government to be sworn in Thursday, a unity coalition agreed after more than a year of unprecedented political deadlock. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who will be in Israel the previous day, is to discuss Iran with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and incoming defence minister Benny Gantz.
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| Montana judge upholds ruling that canceled Keystone XL pipeline permit Posted: 11 May 2020 06:59 PM PDT  A federal judge in Montana on Monday upheld his ruling last month that canceled an environmental permit for the long-delayed Keystone XL oil pipeline and threatened other oil and natural gas pipeline projects with delays. Chief U.S. District Judge Brian Morris denied a request by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to narrow his April 15 ruling that canceled the so-called Nationwide Permit 12. The permit allows dredging work on pipelines across water bodies.
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| Pork Chops vs. People: Battling Coronavirus in an Iowa Meat Plant Posted: 10 May 2020 11:00 AM PDT  On April 10, Tony Thompson, the sheriff for Black Hawk County in Iowa, visited the giant Tyson Foods pork plant in Waterloo. What he saw, he said, "shook me to the core."Workers, many of them immigrants, were crowded elbow to elbow as they broke down hog carcasses zipping by on a conveyor belt. The few who had face coverings wore a motley assortment of bandannas, painters' masks or even sleep masks stretched around their mouths. Some had masks hanging around their necks.Thompson and other local officials, including from the county health department, lobbied Tyson to close the plant, worried about a coronavirus outbreak. But Tyson was "less than cooperative," said the sheriff, who supervises the county's coronavirus response, and Iowa's governor declined to shut the facility."Waterloo Tyson is running," the company said in a text message to employees April 17. "Thank you team members! WE ARE PROUD OF YOU!"Five days later, the plant was closed. Tyson said the reason was "worker absenteeism." As of Thursday, the county health department had recorded 1,031 coronavirus infections among Tyson employees -- more than one-third of the workforce. Some are on ventilators. Three have died, according to Tyson.The plant didn't stay closed for long. As meat shortages hit grocery stores and fast-food restaurants, political pressure built to get the dozens of plants across the country that had shut down because of virus outbreaks up and running again. After an executive order by President Donald Trump declared the meat supply "critical infrastructure" and shielded the companies from certain liability, Tyson reopened its Waterloo facility Thursday.New safety precautions have been added, like plexiglass barriers along the production line, infrared temperature scanners to detect fevers, and face shields and masks for the workers.Now the question is: Will America's appetite for meat be sated without sickening armies of low-wage workers, and their communities, in new waves of infection?Workers and their advocates say Tyson's actions -- and recent federal safety guidelines -- have come far too late. They point to lapses that Tyson made in the first three weeks of April as the virus tore largely unimpeded through the Waterloo plant.As high-level executives lobbied the White House to help protect Tyson from lawsuits, the company was failing to provide adequate safety equipment to Waterloo workers and refusing the requests of local officials to close the plant, according to more than two dozen interviews with plant employees, immigrant-rights advocates, doctors, lawyers and government officials.While Tyson began changing its policies on short-term disability benefits in late March to encourage sick workers to stay home, many employees were not certain of the rules, and some went to work sick to avoid losing pay. Rumors and misinformation spread among workers, many of whom are not native English speakers. As the workforce dwindled, fear gripped the plant.Steve Stouffer, head of Tyson's beef and pork operations, said in an interview that the company had made the best safety decisions it could in a rapidly evolving situation. But he acknowledged that the company might have done more."Looking at it in the rearview mirror, you can always be better," he said.Thompson said that he was thankful for the new safety precautions but that Tyson had been too slow to act."Which is more important?" he asked. "Your pork chops or the people that are contracting COVID, the people that are dying from it?"'A Time of Fear and Panic'A squat gray building branded with the slogan "A Cut Above the Rest," the Waterloo plant is Tyson's largest pork operation in the United States, responsible for almost 4% of the nation's pork supply. Before the pandemic, it operated around the clock, breaking down up to 19,500 hogs a day into cuts of meat that traveled on a fleet of trucks across the country.It is tough, demanding work, usually performed by workers standing close together.During a conference call March 9, union leaders in the meat industry discussed how to spread out workers in plants and take other precautions to prevent an outbreak. But at the time, the problem seemed a long way away from eastern Iowa, said Bob Waters, president of the local union for the Waterloo plant."We thought it might come, but we hoped it didn't," he said. Iowa, like several other Midwestern states, never issued a statewide stay-at-home order.By early April, however, the Black Hawk County emergency operation center had started getting complaints about dangerous conditions at the plant.Workers and their relatives reported a lack of protective gear and insufficient safety protocols and said employees were starting to test positive for the virus.Tyson had put some precautions in place. In March, it began checking workers for fevers as they entered the plant and relaxed its policies so workers who tested positive or were feeling unwell would be paid a portion of their salary even if they stayed home.But workers were still crowded together on the factory floor, in the cafeteria and in the locker room, and most did not wear masks. Tyson said it offered cloth bandannas to workers who asked, but by the time it tried to buy protective gear, supplies were scarce.At least one employee vomited while working on the production line, and several left the facility with soaring temperatures, according to a worker, who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of losing his job, and local advocates who have spoken with workers at the plant.Because of patient privacy laws, Tyson and the union had difficulty obtaining information from state officials about which workers had tested positive -- hampering their efforts to isolate colleagues in close contact with them.Older employees, as well as those with asthma or diabetes, became increasingly afraid of entering the plant."It was really a time of fear and panic," said state Rep. Timi Brown-Powers, who works at a coronavirus clinic in Waterloo. "They had not slowed the line down. They were not practicing any sort of social distancing."On the night of April 12, she said, nearly two dozen Tyson employees were admitted to the emergency room at a hospital, MercyOne.Tyson employed interpreters to communicate with its diverse workforce, which includes immigrants from Bosnia, Mexico, Myanmar and the Republic of Congo. But misinformation and distrust spread.One worker who died had taken Tylenol before entering the plant to lower her temperature enough to pass the screening, afraid that missing work would mean forgoing a bonus, said a person who knows the worker's family and who spoke on the condition of anonymity to protect their privacy.Workers at the plant were confused about why so many colleagues seemed to be getting sick and missing work. Supervisors told them that it was the flu, some said, or warned them not to talk about the virus at work.In an emailed statement, Tyson said it had "worked with the information available to us at the time to help keep our team members safe." The company said earlier information from the Black Hawk County Health Department would have helped its decision-making.Dr. Nafissa Cisse Egbuonye, director of the Black Hawk County Health Department, said that before the state changed the rules on April 14 to help speed public health investigations, she was legally prevented from sharing the names of employees who had tested positive with the company. But she said that she had been in constant communication with the plant and shared her concerns."I think they had enough information," she said, "to take the necessary measures."A Vulnerable WorkforceIowa, an overwhelmingly white state, has long had a complicated relationship with meatpacking plants. While the industry is an engine of the state's economy and the country's food supply, it also employs many immigrants, who have faced periodic raids to enforce immigration laws.Even with union representation, immigrants at the plant say they are afraid to raise concerns about working conditions."The narrative is shifting the blame to the workers instead of focusing on the true incompetence, in my opinion, of the government -- not just the governor, but also leaders here at Tyson," said Nilvia Reyes Rodriguez, president of the Waterloo chapter of the League of United Latin American Citizens. "It was their responsibility to protect their workers."She added, "Because of the population in those industries, I think there is a disregard for those communities."Tyson said in a statement that it took pride in its diversity and that its immigrant workers have advanced to management positions, including at the Waterloo plant. But some of those tensions simmered as local politicians became locked in a struggle with the state and then the federal government over closing the plant.After Thompson's visit, he and other local politicians began lobbying Tyson and Gov. Kim Reynolds for a shutdown. The governor sided with Tyson. She issued an executive order April 16 stating that only the state government, not local governments, had the authority to close businesses in northeast Iowa, including the Waterloo plant."We're making sure that the workforce is protected and, most importantly, that we're keeping that food supply chain moving," Reynolds said.But the number of infections continued to increase. After Tyson closed the plant, the company invited workers back for coronavirus testing. But that process may have infected more workers, said Christine Kemp, chief executive of a local health clinic. Employees bunched together outside the plant and crowded the stairwells. Some left without being tested, afraid they would catch the virus in line.The virus had already spread through the community, including to a nursing home where several workers are married to Tyson employees. The Tyson employees who have died included a Bosnian refugee, survived by a grieving husband, and a man with three daughters. The mother died from cancer last year, and the oldest daughter, 19, will take guardianship of her sisters.A maintenance worker at the plant, Jose Ayala, 44, is lying unresponsive on a ventilator. Zach Medhaug, 39, a fellow worker, has been calling him to talk to him and play his favorite music.Medhaug also caught the coronavirus but has recovered and said he was ready to return to work. "But I'm also in a different position than some other people are," he said. "I'm over COVID. For other people, it's very scary."Reopening the PlantThe political stakes of the reopening in Waterloo are high.With meat supplies disrupted nationwide, the White House has pushed Tyson and other meat companies to continue operating. And Tyson officials have had plenty of chances to air concerns, dining at the White House and participating in several calls with the president and vice president in recent months.Since he issued the executive order April 28, Trump has been quick to declare that the supply chain is back on track.Asked Wednesday about a hamburger shortage at Wendy's, he turned to the secretary of agriculture, Sonny Perdue. "Basically, you're saying, in a week and a half, you think everything is going to be good, or sooner?" the president asked."Yes. These plants are opening as we speak," Perdue said."You're going to have to push them," the president replied. "Push them more."But the reopening may have to proceed in fits and starts. Tyson executives cautioned that it would take time to return to normal. The Waterloo plant reopened Thursday at about 50% capacity. And ramping back up could take weeks as workers return from quarantine.Stouffer, the Tyson executive, said he hoped the worst was over. But health officials warn that a rush to full production could cause a second wave of infections."History will be the judge, eventually," Stouffer said. "But we have attempted very hard -- our entire team, our entire organization, from the chairman of the board on down -- to do the right thing."This article originally appeared in The New York Times.(C) 2020 The New York Times Company
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| Cuomo says New York has passed through a "hellish journey" as state reports lowest new coronavirus deaths since March Posted: 10 May 2020 01:10 PM PDT  "It has been a painful period of time," New York Gov. Cuomo said. The state reached its lowest new daily case count — 521 — since about March 20.
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| Fauci expected to warn the Senate of 'needless suffering and death' if U.S. opens up too quickly Posted: 11 May 2020 08:43 PM PDT  Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and the most recognized medical expert on the White House coronavirus task force, is expected to warn the Senate on Tuesday that if the U.S. reopens too fast, Americans will experience "needless suffering and death," The New York Times reports.Fauci and three other top government doctors are scheduled to testify remotely before the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee. In an email sent late Monday night, Fauci wrote that the "major message" he hopes to convey to the committee is "if we skip over the checkpoints in the guidelines to 'Open America Again,' then we risk the danger of multiple outbreaks throughout the country. This will not only result in needless suffering and death, but would actually set us back on our quest to return to normal."The White House's three-phase Opening Up America Again plan sets guidelines for states to follow regarding reopening. One key point is that states should have a "downward trajectory of positive tests" or a "downward trajectory of documented cases" of COVID-19 over two weeks, while at the same time testing asymptomatic people in vulnerable populations and conducting extensive contact tracing. Many states that have started to reopen are not following these guidelines, and scientists say a second wave of infection may happen earlier than the fall, with waves occurring across the country, the Times reports.More stories from theweek.com Trump casually accuses Joe Scarborough of murder while live tweeting Morning Joe The dark decade ahead How Trump lost his Electoral College edge to Biden
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| Poll: Taiwanese distance themselves from Chinese identity Posted: 12 May 2020 07:09 AM PDT  About two-thirds of Taiwanese don't identify as Chinese, according to a survey released Tuesday that highlights the challenge China would face in bringing the self-governing island under its control. The U.S.-based Pew Research Center found that 66% view themselves as Taiwanese, 28% as both Taiwanese and Chinese and 4% as just Chinese. The results are consistent with other polls showing that people in Taiwan increasingly identify only as Taiwanese, Pew said.
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| New COVID-19 infections in China, South Korea raise alarm over second wave Posted: 11 May 2020 10:22 AM PDT  At least 15 cases of the virus have been confirmed in Shulan, China, while in Seoul, South Korea, 35 new cases were linked to nightclubs.
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| Trump touts testing as "greatest capacity in the world" Posted: 12 May 2020 08:18 AM PDT  The president said he is the one requiring masks now at the White House.
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| This Home Beautifully Blends Traditional and Modern Japanese Architecture Posted: 11 May 2020 04:01 PM PDT |
| Iranian warship hit by missile in training accident, killing 19 sailors Posted: 10 May 2020 09:46 PM PDT  One Iranian warship accidentally struck another with a missile during an exercise, killing 19 sailors and wounding 15 others, Iran's navy said on Monday. The incident took place during training in the Gulf of Oman, a sensitive waterway that connects to the Strait of Hormuz through which about a fifth of the world's oil passes. Iran regularly conducts exercises in the area.
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| Video shows food executives being told to remove their masks before discussing coronavirus outbreaks at meat plants with Mike Pence Posted: 11 May 2020 01:41 PM PDT  The vice president also did not wear a mask, though he had already known for several hours that his press secretary tested positive for COVID-19.
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| New York state to ease virus lockdown but not Big Apple Posted: 11 May 2020 11:21 AM PDT  Some areas of New York -- the state worst affected by America's coronavirus outbreak -- will be allowed to gradually reopen later this week, but New York City will stay closed until at least June, leaders said Monday. COVID-19 has killed around 22,000 people in New York state, which has been shut down since Governor Andrew Cuomo ordered all non-essential businesses ordered closed on March 22. "We start a new chapter today," Cuomo told reporters, adding, "It's an exciting new phase, we're all anxious to get back to work."
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| Coronavirus: South Dakota Sioux refuse to take down 'illegal' checkpoints Posted: 11 May 2020 04:58 AM PDT  Tribal officials say the checkpoints are the only way to ensure the virus does not enter their land.
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| Supreme Court appears divided in Catholic schools case Posted: 11 May 2020 02:04 AM PDT  The Supreme Court on Monday seemed divided over how broadly religious institutions including schools, hospitals and social service centers should be shielded from job discrimination lawsuits by employees. On Monday, the high court heard a case stemming from a unanimous 2012 Supreme Court decision in which the justices said the Constitution prevents ministers from suing their churches for employment discrimination. Lawyer Eric Rassbach, representing two Catholic schools sued by former fifth grade teachers who taught religion among other subjects, told the justices that the women count as ministers exempt from suing.
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| A legend at a Brooklyn hospital dies of Covid-19: 'He ran into the fire' Posted: 12 May 2020 06:55 AM PDT  Dr James 'Charlie' Mahoney led his team through the crisis at SUNY Downstate medical center's ICU, until his life was cut short by the virus * A beloved small-town nurse, a 'karaoke master': the US health workers who died from Covid-19When James "Charlie" Mahoney and his older brother Melvin went to medical school in the 80s, black doctors were hard to find."We remember what it was like when you didn't see anybody that looked like you," said Melvin, an internal medicine doctor who worked alongside Mahoney. Even now this group comprises only 5% of the physician workforce.Mahoney wasn't a "crusader", Melvin said. Instead, he approached everything he did with calm resolve, eschewing hospital hierarchies, and leaving the door open for those who followed.Mahoney would go on to become a respected pulmonologist and pillar of his Brooklyn university hospital system, who led his team into the Covid-19 crisis. But he couldn't avoid the dangers that frontline workers face – particularly as a lung doctor treating a respiratory illness.Like many public hospitals in New York, Mahoney's workplace didn't have enough protective equipment at the onset of the pandemic and staffing was strained. The exposure was inescapable."He was handling patients and codes [patients needing intensive intervention] every five to 10 minutes," said Purna Atluri, a gastroenterologist who worked with Mahoney for more than 20 years. "He was doing everything he could."Atluri was concerned about his friend because he was heavyset, a risk factor for the virus. But for weeks, Mahoney seemed healthy and mostly worried about his sister, who had experienced coronavirus complications.That would change in a matter of days."He's one of our legends – he's one of our giants," said neurologist and colleague Julien Cavanagh.Mahoney started working alongside his older brother when he was eight years old – at three jobs, no less. Growing up in military housing on Long Island, New York, they put in hours at a laundromat, German delicatessen and luncheonette.Even back then, people noticed quiet, intelligent Mahoney. "He was really loved by everyone," Melvin said.During college, Mahoney transported patients at Long Beach hospital – a job that revealed parts of the hospital that physicians often overlook. "He could see what it was like to be at a different level – he could see if a patient didn't get their food, or if someone took it away too quickly," Melvin said.A higher-up at the hospital recommended Mahoney for SUNY Downstate Medical School. He graduated in 1986, and worked at SUNY Downstate's Intensive Care Unit and the affiliated Kings County hospital, until the end.As Mahoney rose through the ranks, he continued to notice the details. After his sister, Saundra Chisolm threw him a 50th birthday party, he chided her for seating esteemed physicians at the head tables, instead of administrative staff."He didn't treat people like underlings," Chisolm said. "He would talk to housekeeping like he would talk to the chief of the hospital."He eventually took over the ICU. People called him a teddy bear, because he was kind and soft-spoken. But he was assertive if he noticed injustice – which, like many physicians of color, he experienced throughout his career."That's where he would stand his ground," Chisolm said. "He told that to a lot of his residents who were people of color: you're just as smart as everyone else."Mahoney's steadfast, egalitarian nature made him a favorite among patients. His hospital system serves a majority black, low-income population with high rates of chronic disease. But he would never consider a patient's insurance status or hesitate to call in other specialists.Anything Mahoney learned, he taught. Cavanagh, who trained under Mahoney, said he could call him at 3am with questions about a patient, and never feel ashamed. But Mahoney demanded excellence."He was someone you think of when writing your [patient] notes," Cavanagh said. "He was someone that you wanted to make proud."> He was handling patients and codes every five to ten minutes> > Purna Atluri, gastroenterologistMahoney's teaching extended beyond work. He coached baseball and football teams in Baldwin, Long Island, where he and his ex-wife Lisa Johnson Mahoney raised three children: Stephanie, Jamie and Ryan.In January, Mahoney, had planned to scale back hospital hours. He went on a Caribbean cruise with his father and sister – one of 50 cruises in his lifetime. "He said, 'that's probably gonna be my retirement cruise,'" Chisolm said.Then the pandemic hit.Mahoney was well-trained to treat Covid-19 patients. And public hospitals, already stretched thin, were bracing for an influx of patients. So he went "running into the fire", Melvin said. Brooklyn has had 40,000 Covid-19 cases, and the virus hit black and Latino communities the hardest."The last time I saw him was at the beginning of the pandemic," Cavanagh said. "I said, are we going to get through this? And he said, oh yeah, we're going to get through this."But in early April, Mahoney started coughing and running a fever. On Easter Sunday, after Chisolm recovered, Mahoney's family noticed on a video chat that he didn't look well. The next day, he was admitted to his own hospital, SUNY Downstate.At first, Mahoney seemed to be improving – he gave his family a thumbs up on FaceTime. Then his health deteriorated and he was transferred to NYU Langone for a higher level of care. He died on 27 April.Physicians at SUNY Downstate said Mahoney's death has left a hole in the institution after his three decades there. "He was what we call a 'lifer'" at the hospital, said colleague Alex Hieu Ly.In early May, Chisolm was home in Long Island, grieving her brother and awaiting a different kind of news: her daughter-in-law was about to have a baby. The moment was bittersweet."He's given us a lot of fodder," she said. "They have plenty of material to talk about for years to come." She hoped her granddaughter would take after Mahoney.
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| Retired Afghan police chief defects to Taliban Posted: 11 May 2020 09:43 AM PDT  A former Afghan police chief has switched sides to join the Taliban in what is thought to be one of the most senior defections to the insurgents yet. Gen Abdul Jalil Bakhtawar joined his former enemies in a move which has split him from his son who remains a senior local government official. Film of the former police chief of Farah province in south West Afghanistan joining the Taliban was released as he was congratulated by militants. Surrounded by flags, Gen Bakhtawar said: "This is a very happy occasion, and God willing, others will also be encouraged," the New York Times reported. The country's ministry of interior said it regretted the general's decision to join "the enemies of peace and stability in Afghanistan," and that he had "chosen violence over a life of dignity," said Tariq Aryan, the spokesman for Afghanistan's interior ministry. The country's vice president, Amrullah Saleh, called him a thug and self-proclaimed general. The militants constantly seek to coax government forces into their ranks and often have success getting lowly-paid troops to switch sides from checkpoints and isolated bases in contested territory. Gen Bakhtawar's defection represents a coup because he not only fought the Taliban for years, but also leads a prominent political family in Farah. One of his sons, Massoud Bakhtawar, is the deputy governor of Farah province. Another son, Farid Bakhtawar, was head of the provincial council until he was killed in a helicopter crash 18 months ago. Meanwhile, the Afghan security forces arrested three senior South Asia Islamic State members including the group's regional leader, the Afghan government said on Monday. The militant group's head of South Asia, Abu Omar Khorasani, was arrested in Kabul alongside the group's spy chief and public relations officer, the Afghan security agency said.
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| Syria’s Cersei Lannister Is Back and Now She Wants Revenge Posted: 11 May 2020 01:29 AM PDT  GAZIANTEP, Turkey—Last February, at Sotheby's Contemporary Art evening sale in London, David Hockney's iconic 1966 painting The Splash was sold to an unidentified buyer for a record price of £23.1 million ($28.6 million). News quickly surfaced that the mystery buyer was billionaire entertainment magnate David Geffen, who decided to splurge shortly after selling his Beverly Hills mansion to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos for $165 million. Geffen had owned the painting previously, but sold it in 1985 to another private buyer. Why are we telling you this in a story about Syria?Amid the chaos and carnage there, news of the secretive Splash purchase was used to fuel a wholly separate tale of intrigue among the ranks of a very different, and very sinister international elite. In this version of events, picked up throughout the region's press outlets and social media, Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad bought the painting as a gift for his British-born wife, Asma, once dubbed "A Rose in the Desert" by Vogue magazine, but now emerging more like the Cersei Lannister of her devastated country.Whatever the truth of the Hockney sale, for many in the Middle East the notion that the Assads would make such a selfish purchase at a time when their country lies in ruins seemed perfectly believable. When Asma was celebrated in Vogue nine years ago (the article has since been deleted), she and her husband were portrayed as a dynamic young couple (he was 46, she was 36) and as potential reformers among the retrograde dictatorships and monarchies of the Arab world. She was attractive, well educated and comfortable in her well-cultivated, upper-middle-class London accent (more so than her local Arabic). It was easy to imagine her capable of curbing her husband's worst authoritarian tendencies while steering Syria toward greater openness. They had cute kids. She was espousing worthy causes and working with nonprofit NGOs. So, if she was known for spending lavishly on jewelry and clothes, nobody much cared outside the country's borders, and for Vogue, so much the better. After Five Bloody Years in Syria, Russia Is Turning Against Iran—and AssadBut that was before Assad treated protests as rebellion, responded with savagery, and a civil war began that to date has killed some 500,000 people, even as half the country's population is displaced internally or has fled to exile as refugees. The conflict spawned huge migration flows in 2015 that massively disrupted European politics, feeding into the hateful xenophobia of the far right. The chaos, and to some extent Bashar al-Assad's cynical tactics, also helped nurture the rise of the barbarous empire of terror that called itself the Islamic State.Inside Syria there had always been skepticism about the fawning international coverage of Asma, which even before the hard times served to strengthen the perception that despite her charitable enterprises, the first lady lacked any real connection to ordinary citizens. It was clear to anyone who dared look that the regime her husband led was structured to serve a shrinking class of ever more wealthy elites, and Asma was no paradigm, she was a problem.Certainly that's the way her husband's mother saw things. THE MOTHER-IN-LAWAnissa Makhlouf, wife of the dynasty's founder, Hafez al-Assad, grew up in humble rural surroundings in a nation where members of the Alawite sect that she and her husband and his closest allies belonged to were regarded as heretical peasants, even after Hafez, an air-force general, seized power in 1970. Following the death of Hafez in 2000, and the succession of Bashar, Anissa became very much a power in her own right. She did not trust her son's London-born wife, and she used her influence to marginalize Asma's public role as well as Asma's access within the regime.But Mother Anissa died in February 2016 at the age of 86, and since then, Asma, now only 44, has seen her star rise considerably, cultivating an independent power base for herself and her immediate family that challenges other more established members of the extended Assad clans.Once upon a time, many in the West thought that Asma could help restrain Syria's crony capitalism and brute backdoor dealings, but Bashar's wife has proved herself highly skilled—indeed, among the most adept and potentially deadly—at navigating the country's maze of rival cliques for her own benefit. Anissa Makhlouf's dislike for her daughter-in-law was a reflection of her concern about Bashar al-Assad's own lack of support among the people as well as within the ruling family and the highest echelons of the regime. Known for being meek and under-appreciated with a distinct inability to look people in the eye, the weak-chinned Bashar prior to 1994 had never been considered for the role of president. His father had groomed his far more charismatic and handsome older brother Bassel as heir apparent. But Bassel died in a car crash in 1994. Even then, Bashar kept a low profile in London, studying optometry in Britain, where he first met Asma, far from palace intrigues. In the BBC documentary A Dangerous Dynasty: House of Assad, a British tutor hired by the family to teach English to the late Bassel remembered his first experience with Bashar as an entirely unremarkable exchange. "I once met Bashar as he was coming into the home, and he didn't make eye contact with me," the tutor said. "He just, kind of was looking down at my hand, and stuck out his own hand, and that was it. I remember thinking that the father certainly made a good choice in choosing Bassel as his successor." After Bassel's death, Anissa pushed Hafez to select Bashar's younger brother, Maher, to take Bassel's place as the next president of Syria. But Hafez knew Maher's reputation as a hothead prone to violence. Bashar's other brother, Majid, was purportedly a heroin addict who suffered from a mental disability and could not be trusted to lead. This left Bashar, much to the chagrin of the disapproving mother, to take the reins. Following Hafez's death in 2000 and Bashar's appointment as president, Anissa used her influence to strengthen the position of her other relatives to become the true centers of power within Syria, operating around Bashar rather than through him. Maher al-Assad, the favorite, was given control of key military units such as the Republican Guard and 42nd Tank Battalion, which oversaw and controlled profits from key oil wells in the country's eastern Deir Ezzor province. Anissa's brother Muhammad Makhlouf and his sons, Hafez, Ayyad, and Rami, already towering figures within the regime, significantly expanded their influence beginning in 2000, following Bashar's appointment. That year, Rami Makhlouf founded and became CEO of Syriatel, one of only two telecommunications companies in Syria that would go on to dominate 70 percent of the domestic market. Makhlouf and his father, Muhammad, eventually would build a massive business empire and net worth estimated to top $5 billion, while Hafez and Ayyad Makhlouf exerted increased dominance over state security apparatuses. Asma, meanwhile, remained largely on the sidelines. "Before the revolution, regime censors wouldn't even let us journalists refer to Asma as 'first lady,'" according to Iyad Aissa, a Syrian opposition journalist who has written extensively about the inner workings of the Assad family, speaking on an Arabic language broadcast. "We were only allowed to describe Asma as 'the president's wife,' unlike Anissa, Bashar's mother, who was always known as 'first lady' during the reign of the father, Hafez."Over the years, rivalries within rivalries developed. Maher al-Assad saw Muhammad Makhlouf, who chaired Syria's Euphrates Oil Company, as a threat to his de facto control of petroleum resources in Deir Ezzor. The Makhloufs would also develop increasingly close ties to the Syrian Social Nationalist Party (SSNP), a secular ultranationalist political party founded in 1932. Hafez al-Assad had built his power through the revolutionary Arab nationalist Baath party, which first seized power in 1963, and the SSNP over the years was seen sometimes as a rival, sometimes an ally. But it had a strong base of popular support, especially in the Alawite heartlands, including the Makhloufs' hometown of Bustan Basha.The vast majority of Syrians are Sunni Muslims, many of whom eventually, over decades, became sympathetic to the Muslim Brotherhood or other Islamist groups the Assads then moved to crush. Secular parties like the SSNP and Baath became especially attractive for ambitious religious outsiders, including Christians as well as Alawites. Although the religious-ideological dynamic changed when the Islamic Republic of Iran forged a Shi'a-Alawite alliance with Hafez al-Assad in the 1980s, the party structures remained.Throughout the 2000s, Rami Makhlouf and other members of the family regularly drew on the SSNP to cultivate an independent source of support for themselves outside the scope of the ruling Baath, and before long the SSNP came to be called, only half jokingly, "Rami's party." After the popular uprising began in 2011, SSNP cadres would serve as the core of pro-regime militias specifically loyal to the Makhlouf clan. In the first decade of Bashar al-Assad's presidency, the British-born Asma, whose roots are among Sunni merchant families from Homs and Damascus, was not a significant player. Hacked emails published in 2012 quoted her saying "I am the real dictator." But not until after Anissa's death would Asma have the opportunity to involve herself and her relatives more directly in Syria's politics and economy—and move against rivals in the Makhlouf clan, in particular its leading mogul, Rami Makhlouf. ASMA'S REVENGEOn May 4, 2020, Rami Makhlouf went missing. Guernica37, an international law and human-rights NGO based in the U.K., issued a press release that day claiming Makhlouf fled to the United Arab Emirates, but it is unclear whether Makhlouf, sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department since 2008, is truly in the UAE or seeking refuge elsewhere. That same day, Syrian Republican Guard units seeking to arrest Makhlouf raided his villa on the outskirts of Damascus, failing to turn up evidence of his whereabouts. Previously, security forces stormed the offices of Syriatel, arresting 28 high-ranking officials, and arrested Wadah Abd al-Rabu, editor in chief of the al-Watan newspaper, one of Syria's most prominent pro-regime media mouthpieces, which Makhlouf has owned since 2006. As the showdown took shape, Rami Makhlouf issued a series of stunning rebukes to Assad and his regime in two videos uploaded to his personal Facebook page on April 30 and May 3. "Can you believe it?" Makhlouf asked in the second video, "Security services have stormed the offices of Rami Makhlouf, their biggest funder and supporter, most faithful servant, and most prominent patron throughout the whole of the war… The pressure being put on us is intolerable, and inhumane." The crux of the dispute is control of Syriatel, a joint public-private partnership half owned by the state, which is entitled to roughly 50 percent of the company's profits in addition to taxes and other state fees. On April 27, Syria's Telecommunications and Post Regulatory Authority (TPRA) announced that Syriatel and the country's only other telecommunication service, MTN, collectively owed $449.65 million to the country's treasury in annual profits required to be shared with the state. MTN has announced that it intends to pay its $172.9 million share, but Makhlouf has remained defiant. "The state has no right to this money, and it's turning its back on previous agreements made years back," Makhlouf declared. "I'll soon be releasing documents that I've already submitted to the relevant authorities clearly demonstrating why they have no right to this money," he added. In a state known for carrying out the wholesale slaughter of those who test its authority, Makhlouf's audacity addressing the president like that sent shockwaves throughout the country. But it's not surprising. This is the culmination of explicit efforts by Asma, Maher, and Bashar al-Assad over the last year to strip Rami Makhlouf and his relatives of their power in Syria. These maneuvering began last August, following Russian demands that the Syrian regime pay back between $2 billion and $3 billion in past due loans, at which point regime security forces put Rami Makhlouf under house arrest in an attempt to force the telecoms mogul to foot the bill. By September, Asma and a cadre of loyal officials who previously worked in her network of NGOs launched a hostile takeover of the Bustan Cooperative, a charitable organization run by Makhlouf through which the salaries of SSNP and other militiamen loyal to Rami had been paid. In October 2019, it was also announced that Asma would be establishing a third telecommunications company in Syria that aimed to seize market share from Syriatel. Lastly, Syria's Ministry of Finance issued two separate orders on December 24 and March 17 to freeze assets owned by Rami Makhlouf's Abar Petroleum Services company that were later used to plug budget deficits within the country's General Customs Directorate. The targeting of Makhlouf's assets meanwhile comes as those belonging to a number of Asma's Sunni relatives have grown significantly.Beginning in 2016, shortly after the death of Anissa al-Makhlouf, members of Asma's family reportedly took control over significant parts of the market for basic goods in Syria. This followed the introduction of a smart card program to purchase products including rice, gas, bread, tea, sugar and cooking oil. The contract allegedly was given to Takamal, a company run by one of Asma's brothers and Muhannad al-Dabagh, Asma's cousin via her maternal aunt. Local media investigations of the company have alleged that a percentage of proceeds reaped from the purchase of goods using smart cards are re-deposited into accounts owned by Takamal's governing board, run by Asma's relatives. In December 2019,while many of Rami Makhlouf's assets were being frozen, those of Asma's paternal uncle, Tarif al-Akhras, were being thawed. Syria's Ministry of Finance had had them locked down for more than a year. Al-Akhras, who owned a small trucking business in Homs prior to 2000, used his niece's connection to the ruling family to expand his networks. He then began taking part in shipments of food and other goods that ran through Syria into Iraq as part of the Oil for Food Program prior to the 2003 U.S. invasion. Ever since, al-Akhras' work has expanded into the maritime shipping, construction, real estate and meat packing sectors. Currently, he and other members of Asma's inner circle stand to see their fortunes continue to improve. Asma's move into the economic sphere has coincided with her victory over a year long struggle with breast cancer. The First Lady formally announced her recovery in August, just before security services put Rami Makhlouf under house arrest. Since then, Syria's Desert Rose has continued if not increased her prolific media appearances documenting her seemingly tireless charitable work across the country. With her newfound economic foothold in place, Asma appears most focused on grooming her children to take their place in the 50 year Assad-Baath party dynasty, often bringing young Hafez, Zain and Karim al-Assad on frontline trips to visit wounded soldiers and inaugurate the opening of new facilities from children's hospitals to newly built schools for the gifted. As the war winds down, and Asma's oldest, Hafez, begins his 18th year, talk has already emerged in pro-regime news outlets and on social media discussing his qualifications to succeed Bashar. Taking the lead himself, recently Hafez has begun conducting his own visits to sites across the country, following clearly in his mother's footsteps.The Russians who saved Bashar's regime over the last five years, have grown weary of his corruption and wary of his Iranian allies. Maybe Asma imagines they would be open to new faces, albeit with the same name.More than ever, since her recovery from cancer, Asma has been keen to re-cultivate the image of the savior queen that she held and then lost in 2011, one ready and poised to bring up the next generation of Syrians, a woman whose soft touch can heal the country's wounds. Some world leaders, having long ago succumbed to grim fatigue where Syria is concerned, may be willing to pay lip service at least to this charade. Following a near 10 year lapse, Syria's Desert Rose could be looking to bloom once more.Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| Paris salons, Shanghai Disney reopen despite global alarm over second coronavirus wave Posted: 11 May 2020 05:45 AM PDT  Global alarm was sounded on Monday over a potential second wave of coronavirus cases after Germany, relatively successful in slowing the outbreak, reported that infections had accelerated again after the first tentative steps to ease a lockdown. News that the "reproduction rate" - the number of people each person with the disease goes on to infect - had surged back to 1.1 in Germany cast a shadow over the reopening of businesses ranging from Paris hair salons to Shanghai Disneyland.
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| Pandemics have 2 endings, says historians Posted: 11 May 2020 10:29 AM PDT  When will the COVID-19 pandemic end? And how? According to historians, pandemics typically have two types of endings: the medical, which occurs when the incidence and death rates plummet, and the social, when the epidemic of fear about the disease wanes.
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| Isabel dos Santos says Angola faked evidence to freeze assets Posted: 12 May 2020 09:25 AM PDT  Isabel dos Santos, the billionaire daughter of Angola's ex-president Jose Eduardo dos Santos, on Tuesday accused the government of resorting to forgery to freeze her assets last year. The 47-year-old tycoon and her Congolese husband Sindika Dokolo are accused of syphoning off more than one billion dollars from Angolan state companies. Dos Santos claimed in a statement that a copy of a fake passport -- bearing the signature of late martial arts film star Bruce Lee -- was part of the evidence submitted to the court.
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| The US government turned down an offer to manufacture up to 1.7 million N95 masks weekly in January: report Posted: 10 May 2020 10:26 AM PDT  Michael Bowen, owner of manufacturer Prestige Ameritech, warned officials of the supply shortage a day after the first coronavirus case in the US.
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| Violence Against Asian Americans Is on the Rise—But It’s Part of a Long History Posted: 11 May 2020 02:13 PM PDT  A new docuseries on PBS calls attention to how Asian Americans have often been violently scapegoated for larger societal issues
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| After controversy, parole grant in officer's slaying delayed Posted: 10 May 2020 10:04 PM PDT |
| Airline middle seats won't stay empty forever in the name of social distancing. Here's why Posted: 10 May 2020 12:14 PM PDT  Permanently blocking middle seats and limiting the number of passengers per flight is a costly move for airlines and would increase ticket prices.
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